by C. Lymari
I felt so fucking stupid. A part of me refused to believe what Pam had said. I’m so much worse. The memory came alive, echoing in my skin. You will pay for this. His hatred for me was always there, and I chose to believe he cared when no one in my life had.
Stupid.
Pathetic.
Little girl.
“Whatever,” I seethed. “I’d rather be dead than go with you.”
Silas pressed me to his chest, his hand at the back of my nape. “You don’t come with me right now, I’ll kill your father.”
I should have fought harder or maybe tell him to go fuck himself. To kill a father I’d never known, but in the end, I couldn’t.
“I. Hate. You.”
“Not as much as I do,” he spat back as he led me out.
I didn’t look back to try to find Ren. I didn’t ask for help. I wanted to be loved, and I never got that. I wanted to love, and it fucking burned me. As I walked out of the club, I didn’t have it in me to care anymore.
Deep down, I always knew my life was not my own, but it was time I gave in to it fully.
Pawn. Princess. Prey.
It was all I’d ever known.
Every mile that was put between Ren and me felt like a stab to the chest. I think it was the adrenaline and betrayal that didn’t let me process what was being said and not reason. The farther I went away from him, I realized one thing: I would never let another man hurt me as he did.
“Where are we going?” I asked Silas.
“Back home.”
Right, back to my penthouse prison.
A few minutes later, when it became clear that we weren’t going to his place, I sat up, trying to stay alert. Think of a game plan. I was so stupid to leave what the doctor had left for me behind. This was what I got for putting my life in the hands of a man. I lose my control and self-preservation.
Silas got a call, and I pretended like I didn’t care. “One hour. We’ll meet you in the pad.”
It didn’t make sense until we arrived at the Hill. The hotel had a helipad that was accessible for the Hills, and I was more than welcome to use it, but I’d never needed it.
“Where are we going?”
“Back home,” Silas repeated.
Once parked, he got out of the car as his men came and dragged me out. I kicked, and I screamed, but they wouldn’t let me go. One of them put their hand in my mouth. I bit it hard until the metallic taste of his blood coated my lips.
“Someone shut her up. I don’t want to hear her,” Silas commanded.
“Stupid bitch.” The guys whose hand I had bitten smacked me, smearing his blood on my cheek.
My skin throbbed, but sadly, it wasn’t anything new.
I kept quiet as we made our way up to my floor. I needed to buy enough time. I could escape; I could break free. I didn’t care about the money, the fame, or the glory. I just wanted to stop feeling this fucking despair that came with feeling and caring. I wanted something for myself, because it was evident no one else would.
The doors to the elevator opened, and Silas dragged me inside the house. He pulled me up the stairs to my room. As I walked through the corridors, I saw Ren everywhere: glaring at me by the kitchen, walking down the stairs shirtless, and it fucking killed me.
The pain—I wanted it gone.
Silas barged into my room, and the first thing I noticed was my father in a wheelchair. His eyes seemed to widen with the shock of seeing me here.
“I told you I would find her again, Michael.” Silas smiled triumphantly, coming behind me. “Get a good look at her, because this is the last time you’ll ever see her again.”
“You said that if I came here, you wouldn’t kill him.” I swung my head back, hitting him the mouth. The pain in my head was the least of my worries.
“You fucking bitch.” Silas gripped my hair and threw me across the room so I landed by my father’s feet.
Like a scared little girl, I hugged my father. A part of me broke because this was the only time I’d felt him close to me. He’d neglected me for years, and I wanted to protect him.
“Pack your shit, Ember, or I will kill him and make you watch.”
Before I could ask why, Silas was slamming the door shut, making me jump up. There’d always been something dark and alluring about Silas, until that allure went deadly, and it hurt me. After the last year I’d spent with him, I knew he would do it. I let go of my father’s legs. He may not have been able to move, but his eyes were alert.
“Did you miss me, Dad?” My voice cracked on the last word. “Or did you barely notice I wasn’t here?”
Going to my closet, I started to pack a bag, grabbing enough that I could survive on my own until I figured out my next step. I took the simplest of clothes, and all the jewelry I could fit in it. I needed money, and trading diamonds was easy.
As I raided my jewels, I came across a little bag full of pills from my party days. I looked at them and shook my head. It would be so easy to take one right now and let my life fall apart yet again in another man’s hands. I grabbed the bag too and brought it with me, putting the pills in my back pocket. I could make some cash from them also.
With the bag in my hand, I went to my father, who watched me with keen eyes.
“We don’t have a lot of time, but we have to go out now.” I went to the back of his chair to try to push him. “I have better chances if I escape on my own, but you see, Dad, I’m not like you. Despite everything, I love you. So either we both get out of here, or neither of us does.”
“I tried to do this the easy way.” Silas’s low voice had me snapping my head up.
I held on to my dad’s wheelchair as Silas came for me in a fit of rage. He dragged me out, throwing me at the foot of the bed, letting my father watch. When I looked at my father, I realized his eyes were moist. I closed my own, not wanting to look at them because my father didn’t get to cry for me, not when he’d never been there for me.
“What do you want?” I screeched, finally gathering enough air in my lungs. “Haven’t you taken enough from me?”
Silas laughed. “It will never be enough. Now grab your bag. We’re going home, back to where it all began.”
Nothing made sense anymore.
“What are you talking about?”
“Your family. They took everything from mine.”
“My family gave you everything!” I screamed.
Silas slapped me, making me fall to the side.
Pain radiated from my skin.
I was a diamond, and diamonds don’t break.
Rising to my feet, I looked at him. “You were a nobody. A poor little orphan boy! We gave you a name, we gave you money. We. Made. Y—”
Silas started to choke me.
Ren
“Before you ask it…” Ignacio sat a little straighter. “…let me tell you I’ve heard about your troubles, and my family, we care not for that organization, but we also won’t make enemies out of them. So, if what you came to ask was for protection, then you are on your own, boy.”
This I expected, and I would never bring anyone into the mess Pamela had made.
Clearing my throat, I spoke. “I know sooner or later they will come to collect what was promised, but the favor is not for me…”
“For Michael’s daughter?” Ignacio asked.
I nodded.
“I recognized her as soon as you two walked through the door. Her father designed my wife’s wedding ring.”
At the mention of their mother, one of the boys let out a small grin and the other a scowl.
“Tell me, are you planning to stay in the city for long?”
“I don’t know yet.” I had no place to hide, so running would only prolong my life for a little while.
“I like you, and I could have some use for someone like you, so before you waste your wish on something that I cannot give, let me tell you this. Michael came to me a long time ago. This hit is a birthright. When her grandfather passed away, it transferred to her. Ju
st like when Michael’s grandfather passed away, his hit passed on to him. It ensures that one day the line will die. It might not be today or tomorrow, but with it being passed down, it ensures that one day someone will come along and fulfill a job that was started almost a century ago. This curse has followed them their whole lives, hailing from their homeland. So, I can’t do anything about it, for the man who created it is now dead.”
Chills went down my spine. I knew it. The hit on her head was dodgy. She was a spoiled bitch, but she hadn’t lived long enough to make enemies like the ones I had. It all came back down to her namesakes. Empires were built on blood indeed.
“And offering my protection will be useless since she’s already been claimed. Her mother was not an oil heiress, but a cartel princess. She had to renounce her familial ties when she married Michael. That’s why nothing is known of her nor her family. Not because they like privacy but to ensure this doesn’t follow the girl around either. Her grandparents protect Ember in the way that if someone touches her, they, along with their family, will be eliminated. Now tell me, is there something I can do for you?”
I wasn’t easily blindsided, but I could admit I was just fucked over by what he said. That left me with no options and back to square one. It left me with one thing to do, and that one thing would have to be enough.
“No blowback.” I spoke the words loud enough that he heard them.
He knew what I was asking, and he thought about it for a second before nodding his head. I was going to paint this city in red, and I would not have to worry about it landing back on me.
“Just let me know when, and it’s done.” He finished his drink. “Any chance you’d be willing to step in the ring again?”
“I’d rather not tempt fate again.” Yet I was about to push it. “But if you lend me some men, I’d be willing to do a job, no questions asked.”
I let the offer hang out casually as if I was joking.
“Three men. Three markers.”
“Deal.” I didn’t hesitate to make a deal with him. He was a devil, but I already knew hell.
“You may go now.” He threw out a dismissive hand my way.
I did as he asked, making my way scarce, and went to find Ember to get us the fuck out of here so I could sink into her pussy.
Nothing could have prepared me for what I would find. No sooner was I out the doors than Gideon was walking toward me.
“She’s gone.”
I let the words sink in as ice seeped through my veins.
“What. The. Fuck. Happened?” I seethed.
“Fuck, mate,” Gideon was pissed. “She went to the bathroom with Pam.”
“Where’s Pam?”
“Gone,” he clipped out.
My jaw felt heavy. I couldn’t even speak with how enraged I was. No phones were allowed here, so I couldn’t exactly call Pam.
“You were supposed to watch her.”
“Fuck,” Gideon cursed. “I thought I saw someone.”
I grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the wall. “If anything happens to her—”
“They’re here… Fuck, I know what I saw…I know who I saw.”
Nothing should shock me, but if there ever was a worse time for them to collect the debt I couldn’t pay now, this was it.
“I hate to break this little lovefest.” Enzo’s dry tone was on my right. I turned to look at him, and he just blankly stared at Gideon and me. “I saw your little girlfriend leave.”
“Where?”
“I was about to head out when I saw her get in a blacked-out SUV. Didn’t think much of it when I saw Pam get picked up and neither of you two around.”
My ears were ringing.
One thing I was sure of was that one of those two had betrayed me.
“We need to get out now,” I said through gritted teeth.
I walked out with both Enzo and Gideon at my heels. I ran out to the bikes, and just as I knew they would be, they were fucking trashed.
My priority was getting Ember back. Pam would get what was coming to her. She did not get to live a new life after fucking me over twice. I felt some sense of loyalty, having grown up together. She was the closest thing I had to family, but family didn’t betray you. Jealousy was one hell of an emotion, and she let it get the best of her.
Pulling my phone out, I called one of my contacts. I told Ember I had people keeping an eye out on her family. I had one contact, and I called him.
The phone rang three times before he answered. “Where is he?
“He’s at the Hill… Listen, man, I don’t know what’s going on, but he was pissed. He tried to get the Ember out of storage, but he couldn’t do it. After the gala, it was stored in the vault inside a fail-safe, and the only person who knows the code is Michael.”
A desperate man will do just about anything. This was not at all the news I wanted to hear, but at least it gave me a starting point. I just hoped I wasn’t too late.
“I’m heading over.”
“I’d hurry if I were you. He requested the company heli about ten minutes ago.”
Fuck.
“Marcus…” The line was silent. “Thanks.”
He didn’t say anything back, and I didn’t expect him to. Before I grabbed Ember, I’d gone to Marcus. I explained a few things, and he was already wary about Ember’s whereabouts. He cared about her, and I exploited that to my benefit.
“I’m going to need to cash my favor sooner than I thought.”
Enzo, who was still with us, smiled. “I’ll make a call.”
“Shut up.” Silas seethed as he held on to my neck. The choker dug into my skin, making it even harder to breathe.
“No…bo…dy.”
Silas laughed and then let me go. He yelled for one of his guards.
“Bring them to the living room. I want Michael there too. I want him to watch me take his precious little girl.” Silas looked at my father with disgust.
The further they took me from my room, the more the hope I had moments ago deflated. How was I supposed to escape now? I looked at my father as they carried his chair down the stairs. Our eyes met, and I could have sworn he tried to tell me something, but I didn’t know him enough to communicate without words. He was my father in name, but in reality, he was nothing but a stranger that DNA told me to love.
“Why do you hate us so much?” I whispered as they threw me on the couch.
Silas’s dark eyes bore into mine. “Hate you? If you remembered well, Ember, I loved you. I was never supposed to want you, and you made me fall for you.”
He spat the words out like they were nothing. The guards put my father next to me, and I had never felt so ashamed in my life.
“I was just a kid!”
Silas laughed, then took a step forward, but he didn’t come to me, but to my father. “She was the sweetest revenge I never knew I could have. Defiling your little girl, brother, was a delight.”
“Stop!” I choked out.
“I told you, Ember, it could have been the easy way, but you chose to be a whore. I would have given you mercy, and you didn’t want to take it.”
“For what?! What did we ever do to you?!” I cried.
“I’d start saying goodbye to your father. You’re never going to see him again.”
Moisture hit my eyes. I didn’t want to cry; I didn’t think I was still capable of feeling this way, yet here I was. I could remember all the times I’d spent with my father because they weren’t many, but they were precious but too painful to think about. Now knowing I might never see him again saddened me.
“Where are we going?”
“Back home.” He said it like it was the most obvious answer in the world.
“We are home.” I shook my head, trying to understand what he was talking about.
Silas was unhinged. He sounded maniacal.
“We’re going back to Africa. I’m finally going to take my birthright!”
“What birthright? You aren’t even a Remington. You
get nothing of ours,” I spat at him.
“Yeah, and whose fault is that? Your family took everything from mine. They left us out cold. Cut us out and threw us in the streets.” He stopped and looked at me. “I see I’ve stunned you. Your grandfather fucked up. All these years, he felt guilty for what his father did. He knew the way he took the Ember was dirty. He didn’t want that sin on his. He took me in, a poor orphan boy, giving me a better life to pay for his father’s mistakes. Except I wasn’t an orphan. And my family, we have hated yours since. We’ve stayed in the shadows waiting for the perfect opportunity to bring you all down.”
I opened my mouth and closed it. Nothing made sense.
“Before my great-grandfather took his life, he gathered all the money our family still had, and he placed a hit on your great-grandfather and his son. He wanted your family gone. That money—our money—was put into a bid to bring yours to their knees. Your father and mother lived over there, trying to escape your mother’s family. Did he tell you that? Did daddy tell you why he never speaks of your mother?”
My chest was rising and falling.
“She was a kingpin’s daughter. They ran to the other side of the world to leave her life behind. Then your great-grandfather died, and the hit was passed down to your dad. Your father loved you enough to come running back to America so he could be safe.”
Silas came to me, bending down, and I flinched.
“You poor little girl, thinking your father didn’t love you. He did everything for you. He begged your mother’s family to protect you. He tried to move heaven and earth to make sure that this curse never caught up to you, and what did you do? You fucked the person responsible for this curse…again…and…again…and again, getting off on it even when you hated it.”
I tried to hit him, but he was there, grabbing my arms, stopping me from doing so. I thought I hated before, but that was nothing compared to how I felt right now. My skin was lava, hot and molten, trying to incinerate everything in my path.
I spat in Silas’s face.
He threw me on the couch, my head slamming against the wood in the back.
“It was all me, Ember. When daddy had business meetings, it was me pulling strings, treating him, trying to isolate you. The car crash was meant to kill your worthless father, but it didn’t work out that way.” He turned to give my father a pitying look. “Look at him. He can’t talk or walk. I sure as fuck hope he can hear me.”
